carry many. We had little meat; what we
had was bacon, and prepared meats of the lunch variety. Cheese was our
main substitute for meat. It was easily carried and kept well. Dried
peaches or apricots were on the bill for nearly every meal, each day's
allowance being cooked the evening before. We tried several condensed
or emergency foods, but discarded them all but one, for various
reasons. The exception was Erbeswurst, a patent dried soup
preparation. Other prepared soups were carried also. I must not forget
the morning cereal. It was Cream of Wheat, easily prepared; eaten--not
served, perhaps devoured would be a better word--with sugar and
condensed cream, as long as it lasted, then with butter. Any remainder
from breakfast was fried for other meals. Each evening, we would make
some baking-powder biscuit in a frying-pan. A Dutch oven is better,
but had too much weight. The appellation for such bread is "flapjack"
or "dough-god." When I did the baking they were fearfully and
wonderfully made. Cocoa, which was nourishing, often took the place of
coffee. In fact our systems craved just what was most needed to build
up muscle and create heat. We found it was useless to try to catch
fish after the weather became cold. The fish would not bite.

On the upper end of our journey we carried no tobacco, as it happened
that Jimmy as well as ourselves were not tobacco users. There were no
alcoholic stimulants. When Bert joined us, a small flask, for
medicinal purposes only, was taken along. The whiskey was scarcely
touched at this time. Bert enjoyed a pipe after his meals, but
continued to keep good-natured even when his tobacco got wet, so
tobacco was not absolutely necessary to him.

Uninteresting and unromantic these things may be, but they were most
important to us. We were only sorry the supply was not larger. While
we never stinted ourselves, or cut the allowance of food, the amount
was growing smaller every day, and it was not a question any more
whether we would go out or not, to get provisions, to "rustle" as Bert
called it, but where we would go out. We might go up Cataract Creek or
Ha Va Su Creek, as it is sometimes called. We had been to the mouth of
this canyon on foot, so there would be no danger of missing it. The Ha
Va Supai Indians, about two hundred in number, lived in this lateral
canyon about seven or eight miles from the river. An agent and a
farmer lived with them, and might be able to sell us some provision